This document discusses ways to value and raise the status of teachers. It notes that communities can help by showing they value the teaching profession. Countries where teachers feel their profession is valued have higher student learning outcomes. The document also discusses teachers' job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and perceptions of professionalism. Teachers with higher self-efficacy are more likely to use active learning instruction. Growing expectations on teachers can impact their well-being, motivation, and retention. Ensuring teachers feel supported in their work environment is important.
Valuing our teachers and raising their status - how communities can help
1. Valuing our teachers and raising their status
how communities can helpAndreas Schleicher
ISTP, 22 March 2018
2. Teachers perception of the value of teaching
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Singapore
Korea
Finland
Alberta
(Canada)
Flanders
(Belgium)
Shanghai
(China)
NewZealand
Russia
Netherlands
Australia
England(UK)
UnitedStates
Average
Norway
Japan
Latvia
Denmark
Poland
Iceland
Estonia
Czech
Republic
Portugal
Sweden
France
Percentageofteachers Fig II.3.3
Percentage of lower secondary teachers who "agree" or "strongly agree" that teaching profession is a valued profession in society
4. Theme 2
Preparing students for their future, not our past
The post-truth world where reality becomes fungible
• Virality seems privileged over quality
in the distribution of information
• Truth and fact are losing currency
Scarcity of attention and abundance of information
• Algorithms sort us into groups of like-minded
individuals create echo chambers that amplify our
views, leave us uninformed of opposing arguments,
and polarise our societies
6. Students are using more time online outside school on a typical school day (PISA)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Chile39
Sweden56
Uruguay33
CostaRica31
Spain44
Italy40
Australia52
Estonia50
NewZealand51
Hungary43
Russia42
Netherlands48
Denmark55
SlovakRepublic40
CzechRepublic43
Austria42
Latvia46
Singapore45
Belgium44
Poland46
Iceland51
OECDaverage-2743
Ireland48
Croatia40
Portugal42
Finland48
Israel34
Macao(China)45
Switzerland40
Greece41
HongKong(China)39
Mexico30
Slovenia37
Japan31
Korea20
Minutes per day
2015 2012
Figure III.13.3
Percentage of High Internet Users (spending 2 to 6 hours on line per day), during weekdays
7. The kind of things that are
easy to teach are now easy to
automate, digitize or
outsource
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2006 2009
Routine manual
Nonroutine manual
Routine cognitive
Nonroutine analytic
Nonroutine interpersonal
Mean task input in percentiles of 1960 task distribution
8. When fast gets really fast, being slow to adapt makes you really slow
9.
10. Agency: Young people will need to
be innovative, responsible and
aware. They will have a sense of right
and wrong, sensitivity to the claims
that others make and a grasp of the
proper limits on individual and
collective action.
Co-agency: The interactive, mutually
supportive relationships that help
learners to progress towards their
valued goals. To help enable agency,
educators need to recognise
learners’ individuality, and also
acknowledge the wider set of
relationships – with their teachers,
peers, families and communities –
that influence their learning.
11. Poland
Hong Kong-China
Brazil
New Zealand
Greece
Uruguay
Estonia
Finland
Albania
Croatia
Latvia
Germany
Chinese Taipei
Thailand
Japan
Turkey
Hungary
Israel
Canada
Bulgaria
Jordan
Chile
Macao-China
U.A.E.
Belgium
Netherlands
Argentina
Indonesia
Denmark
Kazakhstan
Peru
Costa Rica
Switzerland
Montenegro
Tunisia
Slovenia
Qatar
Singapore
Portugal
Colombia
Malaysia
Mexico
Liechtenstein
Korea
Serbia
Russian Fed.
Romania
Viet Nam
Italy
Shanghai-China
R² = 0.36
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
-0.60 -0.40 -0.20 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20
Meanmathematicsperformance
Mean index of mathematics self-efficacy
Countries where students have stronger beliefs in their
abilities perform better
12.
13. Creating new value connotes
processes of creating, making,
bringing into being and formulating;
and outcomes that are innovative,
fresh and original, contributing
something of intrinsic positive worth.
The constructs that underpin the
competence are creativity/ creative
thinking/ inventive thinking, curiosity,
global mind-set, …
.
In a structurally imbalanced world,
the imperative of reconciling diverse
perspectives and interests, in local
settings with sometimes global
implications, will require young
people to become adept in handling
tensions, dilemmas and trade-offs.
Underlying constructs are empathy,
resilience/stress resistance
trust, …
Dealing with novelty, change,
diversity and ambiguity assumes that
individuals can think for themselves
and work with others. This suggests
a sense of responsibility, and moral
and intellectual maturity, with which
a person can reflect upon and
evaluate their actions in the light of
their experiences and personal and
societal goals; what they have been
taught and told; and what is right or
wrong
Underlying constructs include critical
thinking skills, meta-learning skills
(including learning to learn skills),
mindfulness, problem solving skills,
responsibility, …
14. Anticipation mobilises
cognitive skills, such as
analytical or critical thinking,
to foresee what may be
needed in the future or how
actions taken today might
have consequences for the
future
Reflective practice is the
ability to take a critical stance
when deciding, choosing and
acting, by stepping back from
what is known or assumed
and looking at a situation
from other, different
perspectives
Both reflective practice and
anticipation contribute to the
willingness to take responsible
actions
Implications for pedagogy
15. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Arts Humanities Mathematics National Language/s PE/Health Science Technologies
Numberofmappedcontentitems
Skills, Attitudes and Values Key concepts
2030 Learning
Framework
Competency
Development
Cycle
Compound
competencies
for 2030
Current curricula and 2030 aspirations
Preliminary findings of curriculum content mapping (lower secondary; Ontario, Canada)
16. Current curricula and 2030 aspirations
Preliminary findings of curriculum content mapping (lower secondary; Japan)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Arts Humanities Mathematics National Language/s PE/Health Science Technologies
Numberofmappedcontentitems
Skills, Attitudes and Values Key
concepts
2030
Learning
Framewo
rk
Competency
Development
Cycle
Compound
competencies
for 2030
17. Preliminary findings of curriculum content mapping (lower secondary)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Arts Humanities Mathematics National Language/s PE/Health Science Technologies
Numberofmappedcontentitems
2030 Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes and Values Key concepts
2030 Learning
Framework
Competency
Development
Cycle
New demands for
compound
competencies for 2030
Current curricula and 2030 aspirations (country average)
18. Learning time and science performance Figure II.6.23
Finland
Germany Switzerland
Japan Estonia
Sweden
Netherlands
New Zealand
Macao
(China)
Iceland
Hong Kong
(China) Chinese Taipei
Uruguay
Singapore
Poland
United States
Israel
Bulgaria
Korea
Russia Italy
Greece
B-S-J-G (China)
Colombia
Chile
Mexico
Brazil
Costa
Rica
Turkey
Montenegro
Peru
Qatar
Thailand
United
Arab
Emirates
Tunisia
Dominican
Republic
R² = 0.21
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
35 40 45 50 55 60
PISAsciencescore
Total learning time in and outside of school
OECD average
OECD average
OECDaverage
19. Learning time and science performance (PISA)
Figure II.6.23
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Finland
Germany
Switzerland
Japan
Estonia
Sweden
Netherlands
NewZealand
Australia
CzechRepublic
Macao(China)
UnitedKingdom
Canada
Belgium
France
Norway
Slovenia
Iceland
Luxembourg
Ireland
Latvia
HongKong(China)
OECDaverage
ChineseTaipei
Austria
Portugal
Uruguay
Lithuania
Singapore
Denmark
Hungary
Poland
SlovakRepublic
Spain
Croatia
UnitedStates
Israel
Bulgaria
Korea
Russia
Italy
Greece
B-S-J-G(China)
Colombia
Chile
Mexico
Brazil
CostaRica
Turkey
Montenegro
Peru
Qatar
Thailand
UnitedArabEmirates
Tunisia
DominicanRepublic
Scorepointsinscienceperhouroflearningtime
Hours Intended learning time at school (hours) Study time after school (hours) Score points in science per hour of total learning time
20. • Make it faster and
more granular
• Collaborative platforms
for teachers to share and
enrich teaching materials
• As tools for inquiry-
based pedagogies
with learners as
active participants
• Well beyond textbooks, in
multiple formats, with little
time and space constraints
Expand
access to
content
Support
new
pedagogies
Feedback
Collaboration
for
knowledge
creation
Technology can amplify innovative teaching
21. 450
460
470
480
490
500
510
520
-2 -1 0 1 2
Scorepoints
Technology in schools and digital skills still don’t square
Source: Figure 6.5
Relationship between students’ skills in reading and computer use at school (average across OECD countries)
OECD
average
Digital reading skills
of 15-year-olds
Intensive technology useNo technology use
22. %
Yes
No
If I am more innovative in my teaching
I will be rewarded (country average)
23. Some lessons
• Rigor, focus and coherence
• Remain true to the disciplines
– but aim at interdisciplinary learning and the capacity of students to see
problems through multiple lenses
– Balance knowledge of disciplines and knowledge about disciplines
• Focus on areas with the highest transfer value
– Requiring a theory of action for how this transfer value occurs
• Authenticity
– Thematic, problem-based, project-based, co-creation in conversation
• Some things are caught not taught
– Immersive learning propositions
27. 74%: Thinking and reasoning is more
important than curriculum content
28. -2.00 -1.50 -1.00 -0.50 0.00
Prevalence of memorisation
rehearsal, routine exercises, drill and
practice and/or repetition
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00
Switzerland
Poland
Germany
Japan
Korea
France
Sweden
Shanghai-China
Canada
Singapore
United States
Norway
Spain
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Prevalence of elaboration
reasoning, deep learning, intrinsic
motivation, critical thinking,
creativity, non-routine problems
High Low Low High
29. Memorisation is less useful as problems become more difficult
(OECD average)
R² = 0.81
0.70
1.00
300 400 500 600 700 800
Difficulty of mathematics item on the PISA scale
3
Source: Figure 4.3
Difficult problem
Easy problem
Greater
success
Less
success
Odds ratio
30. Elaboration strategies are more useful as problems become
more difficult (OECD average)
R² = 0.82
0.80
1.50
300 400 500 600 700 800
Difficulty of mathematics item on the PISA scale
5
Source: Figure 6.2
Difficult
problem
Greater
success
Less
success
Easy problem
Odds ratio
31. Active learning instruction is predicted by
teachers’ self-efficacy
Mexico Australia Latvia Romania Portugal Singapore Spain Finland
Teachers with higher self-efficacy Teachers with lower self-efficacy
-Active-learninginstruction
+
33. 3
9
39
Be experts on their discipline and
experts on how students learn
Respond to individual differences with
broad pedagogical repertoire
Provide continual assessment with
formative feedback
Be demanding for every student with a
high level of cognitive activation
Ensure that students feel valued and
included and learning is collaborative
Growing expectations on teachers
• Some evidence that well-being factors impact
motivation, self-efficacy and job commitment
• Attrition a growing issue, with high costs
• Growing teacher shortages
34. Teachers’ job satisfaction
0 20 40 60 80 100
The advantages of being a teacher
clearly outweigh the disadvantages
If I could decide again, I would still
choose to work as a teacher
I would recommend my school as a
good place to work
I enjoy working at this school
All in all, I am satisfied with my job
I am satisfied with my performance
in this school
Percentage of teachers
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
35. Teachers’ job satisfaction and class size
10.00
10.50
11.00
11.50
12.00
12.50
13.00
15 or less 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36 or more
Teachers'jobsatisfaction(level)
Class size (number of students)
38. Professionalism
Public confidence in profession and professionals
Professional preparation and learning
Collective ownership of professional practice
Decisions made in accordance with the body of knowledge o the profession
Acceptance of professional responsibility in the name of the profession and accountability towards
the profession
39. Spending per student and learning outcomes
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Estonia
Israel
Poland
Korea
Portugal
New Zealand
Canada
Germany
Spain
France
Italy
Singapore
Finland
Japan
Slovenia Ireland
Iceland
Netherlands
Sweden
Belgium
UK
Australia
Denmark
United States
Austria
Norway
Switzerland
Luxembourg
Viet Nam
Jordan
Peru
Thailand
Malaysia
Uruguay
Turkey
Colombia
Tunisia
Mexico
Montenegro
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
Croatia
Lithuania
Latvia
Hungary
Shanghai-China
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
0 20 000 40 000 60 000 80 000 100 000 120 000 140 000 160 000 180 000 200 000
Average spending per student from the age of 6 to 15 (USD, PPPs)
Low spending High spending
PISAMathPerformance
40. Countries spend their money differently
Contribution of various factors to salary cost of teachers per student in public institutions, lower secondary education (2015)
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
0
1
2
3
4
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Austria
hcom.(Belgium)
Germany
hcom.(Belgium)
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Slovenia
Australia
Spain
Netherlands
Ireland
Portugal
Canada
UnitedStates
Japan
Korea
Italy
Greece
Israel
Poland
France
Hungary
Estonia
CzechRepublic
SlovakRepublic
Turkey
Chile
Latvia
Mexico
USD,Thousands
Contribution of teachers' salary
Contribution of teaching time
Contribution of instruction time
Contribution of estimated class size
Difference of salary cost of teachers per student from OECD average
41. Session 1
Schools at the centre of communities
Powerful learning environments are constantly creating synergies and finding new ways to enhance
professional, social and cultural capital with others. They do that with families and communities, with
higher education, with other schools and learning environments, and with businesses.
42. Schools and communities: a virtuous relationship
Schools
Successful schools draw
on the resources and
support of their
communities
Schools are vital to
the social health of
their local
communities
Schools at the centre of their
communities are often the
most successful schools.
Communities
Extracurricular activities that
enrich communities in
sports, social care and
volunteering
Research projects offer
innovative answers to the
needs of local enterprises,
while enhancing
entrepreneurialism among
students and providing real-
world experiences.
Service learning
Schools engage parents and families
in learning, and also draw on
resources of local enterprises,
community organisations, social
services, and sports and cultural
institutions, such as museums,
theatres or libraries
Schools can become partners in
serving the needs of local
communities, especially in
disadvantaged communities
43. Levelling the playing field
• Because local communities differ in wealth and cultural
capital, schools do not find themselves on a level playing field
– Geographical segregation can lead to unequal opportunities for
schools to benefit from engaging with the local community
– Many OECD countries still face difficulties in equipping socio-
economically disadvantaged schools to effectively address the
challenges they face and offer their students a high-quality
education
• Several countries face challenge in terms of regional
discrepancies in the educational offer
– Difficulty to attract qualified teachers in remote areas
45. Differences in educational resources
between advantaged and disadvantaged schools
Figure I.6.14
-3
-2
-2
-1
-1
0
1
1
CABA(Argentina)
Mexico
Peru
Macao(China)
UnitedArabEmirates
Lebanon
Jordan
Colombia
Brazil
Indonesia
Turkey
Spain
DominicanRepublic
Georgia
Uruguay
Thailand
B-S-J-G(China)
Australia
Japan
Chile
Luxembourg
Russia
Portugal
Malta
Italy
NewZealand
Croatia
Ireland
Algeria
Norway
Israel
Denmark
Sweden
UnitedStates
Moldova
Belgium
Slovenia
OECDaverage
Hungary
ChineseTaipei
VietNam
CzechRepublic
Singapore
Tunisia
Greece
TrinidadandTobago
Canada
Romania
Qatar
Montenegro
Kosovo
Netherlands
Korea
Finland
Switzerland
Germany
HongKong(China)
Austria
FYROM
Poland
Albania
Bulgaria
SlovakRepublic
Lithuania
Estonia
Iceland
CostaRica
UnitedKingdom
Latvia
Meanindexdifferencebetweenadvantaged
anddisadvantagedschools
Index of shortage of educational material Index of shortage of educational staff
Disadvantaged schools have more
resources than advantaged schools
Disadvantaged schools have fewer
resources than advantaged schools
46. Low math performance
High math performance
Mathematics performance
of the 10% most disadvantaged
American 15-year-olds (~Mexico)
Mathematics performance
of the 10% most privileged
American 15-year-olds (~Japan)
Poverty need not be destiny:
PISA math performance by decile of social background
PISAmathematicsperformance
47. 5
7
57 Square school choice with equity
Financial
incentives
for schools
Assistance for
disadvantaged
parents
Manage/
consolidate
school
network
Formula-
based
approaches
to school
financing
Admission
policies,
controlled
choice
Foster
collaboration
/pairing
among
schools
Engaging
parents and
stakeholders
What can policy do?
48. Parents’ interest in their child's activities at school and well-being (average)
2.5 times more likely
1.9 times more likely
1.4 times less likely
Twice less likely
Wanting top grades
at school
Being very satisfied
with life
Feeling lonely at
school
Being not satisfied
with life
More likely
Less likely
As likely
Students who say their parents are interested in their school activities are…
49. Spend time just talking to my child
Eat <the main meal> with my child around a table
Discuss how well my child is doing at school
Attended a scheduled meeting or conferences for parents
Talked about how to support learning at home and
homework with my child’s teachers
Discussed my child’s progress with a teacher on my own
initiative
Exchanged ideas on parenting, family support, or the child’s
development with my child’s teacher
Discussed my child's behaviour with a teacher on my own
initiative Students' likelihood of being very satisfied with
their life when their parents reported having
participated in these school-related activities in
the previous academic year
Students' likelihood of being very satisfied with
their life when parents reported engaging in
these activities "at least once a week"
Parents’ activities and students’ life satisfaction (country average)
20%
more
likely
60% more
likely...
As
likely
40%30%10% 50%
… To report high levels of life satisfaction
22 (12) PISA
points advantage
19 (10) PISA
points advantage
50. 0 10 20 30 40
The meeting times were inconvenient
I was not able to get off from work
I had no one to take care of my child/children
I had problems with transportation
My <language skills> were not sufficient
I think participation is not relevant for my child’s
development
I do not know how I could participate in school activities
My child does not want me to participate
Percentage of students (country average)
Obstacles to parents' participation in their child's school activities Figure III.9.8
51. 33 30 33
30 25
24
22
14
7 11
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Hungary(28)
Portugal(27)
Chile(28)
Italy(24)
Croatia(18)
Germany(19)
Mexico(21)
HongKong-China(13)
Korea(7)
Macao-China(10)
Boys Girls Gender gap
%
Parents are more likely to expect their sons, rather than their daughters, to
enter a STEM career – even when boys and girls perform equally well in school
Source: Figure 5.1 (PISA 2012, ABC of gender equality)
Gender gap among
boys and girls
with similar
results in
mathematics,
reading and
science
performance
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Percentage of students whose parents expect that they will work in STEM occupations
53. What is holding change back?
• Scale and reach of the sector
– Everyone has participated, so everyone has an opinion
• Everyone has a stake
– Everyone supports reform – except for their own children
– Those who promote reforms often change their mind when they
understand what change actually entails
• Education has a highly visible presence
– There is no reform by stealth
• The frogs don’t clear the swamp
– The loss of privilege is pervasive simply because of the extent of
vested interests in maintaining the status quo.
54. What is holding change back?
• You can lose an election but you don’t win one over education
– Complexity and length of reform trajectory that extend electoral
cycles
– A substantial gap between the time when the cost of reform is
incurred, and the time when benefits materialise
• Asymmetry of costs and benefits of educational reform
– Reform is easy to derail by vocal interest groups
– Costs are certain, benefits not
• Provider capture
– Teachers often command greater public trust than politicians
– Even when parents have a poor opinion of the education system, they
will generally view the school of their children and its teachers
positively
55. What is holding change back?
• Absence of supportive ecosystems
– Lack of an education industry that pushes
innovation and absorbs risks
– A research sector that is disengaged from the real
needs of real people and real classrooms
• Absence of systematic reform evaluation
• Lack of leadership capacity
– Limited career structures
56. Effective governance…
66
Focuses on processes, not structures
• Number of levels and power at each are not what make or break a good system, but rather the strength of the
alignment across the system, the involvement of actors and the processes underlying governance and reform.
Is flexible and able to adapt to change and unexpected events
• Strengthening a system’s ability to learn from feedback is fundamental
Works through building capacity, stakeholder involvement and open dialogue
• Involvement of more stakeholders only works when there is a strategic vision and a set of processes to harness
their ideas and input
Requires a whole-of-system approach
• Aligning policies, roles and responsibilities to improve efficiency and reduce potential overlap
Harnesses evidence and research to inform policy and reform
• A strong knowledge system combines data, research findings and expert practitioner knowledge. The key is
knowing what to use, when, why and how.
57. What can policy do?
Strive for consensus without compromising drive for improvement
• Acknowledge divergent interests and provide mechanisms for institutionalized consultation
• Build effective partnerships
Engage teachers not just in implementation of reform but in their design
Use and evaluate pilots
• Policy experimentation can help build consensus on implementation and can prove
powerful in testing out policy initiatives and – by virtue of their temporary nature and
limited scope – overcoming fears and resistance by specific groups of stakeholders
Back reforms with sustainable capacity
Time implementation carefully
58. Find out more about our work at www.oecd.org/pisa
– All publications
– The complete micro-level database
Email: Andreas.Schleicher@OECD.org
Twitter: SchleicherOECD
Wechat: AndreasSchleicher
Thank you